Skinning tutorial

I've bolded the sections where you'll have to make changes.

Other parts - these are all New Index Templates:

1) cookiecheck.php - This is the workhorse that points people to the right skin (if they are new and don't have a cookie or if they have a cookie already). This gets added to the top of index.php (and any other pages you want to match your skin). Note: I've used 10 here as the limit for the number of skins I have, but you can set it to either the exact number of skins you have or some other number.

<?
$total_skins = 10;
$default_skin = 1;

if (isset($_REQUEST['newskin'])) {
$newskin=(int)$_REQUEST['newskin'];
if ( ($newskin<1) OR ($newskin>$total_skins) ) $newskin=$default_skin;
} elseif (isset($_REQUEST['skin'])) {
$newskin=(int)$skin;
if ( ($skin<1) OR ($skin>$total_skins) ) $newskin=$default_skin;
} else $newskin=$default_skin;

$skin=$newskin;
setcookie ('skin', "", time() - 3600);
setcookie('skin',$newskin,time()+(86400*365),'/');
setcookie('skin',$newskin,time()+(86400*365),'/','.your_domain.com');
$skin=$newskin;

$headervar = "/path/to/directory/where/your/skin/pieces/live/header";
$footervar = "/path/to/directory/where/your/skin/pieces/live/footer";
$extension = ".php";
?>

2) skins/reset.php - This resets your visitor's cookie to the default skin.

<?php
setcookie('skin','',time(),'/');
setcookie('skin','',time(),'/','.yourdomain.com');
header('location: http://www.yourdomain.com');
?>

3) skins/changeskin.php - This is the guts of skin switching.

<?php

$total_skins = 7;
$default_skin = 1;

if (isset($newskin))
{
$newskin = (int)$newskin;
if ($newskin < 1) $newskin = $default_skin;
if ($newskin > $total_skins) $newskin = $default_skin;
}
elseif (isset($skin))
{
$newskin = (int)$skin;
if ($newskin < 1) $newskin = $default_skin;
if ($newskin > $total_skins) $newskin = $default_skin;
}
else
{
$newskin = $default_skin;
}

$skin = $newskin;
setcookie('skin',$skin,time()+(86400*365),'/');
setcookie('skin',$skin,time()+(86400*365),'/','.yourdomain.com');
header('location: http://www.yourdomain.com/');
?>

4) skins/dropdown.php - The dropdown menu.

<form name="jump">
<select name="menu"
onChange="location=document.jump.menu.options[document.jump.menu.selectedIndex].value;"
value="GO">
<option selected>Skin this site</option>
<option value="/skins/changeskin.php?newskin=1">Plain Jane MT default</option>
<option value="/skins/changeskin.php?newskin=2">New Attitude</option>
<option value="/skins/reset.php">Reset to default</option>
</select>
</form>

5) Add in your sidebar somewhere:

<?php include '/path/to/your/skins/dropdown.php'; ?>